00:00Despite Leeds United gaining 100 points in the Championship last season, there have been some concerns about their attacking prowess going into their Premier League campaign, which starts in just a matter of days now in mid-August.
00:15Last season, the Championship's top scorer played for Leeds United, Joel Perrault. And of course, Joel Perrault is still at the club, but Perrault himself does not have any Premier League experience to speak of.
00:27Yes, he scored in a pre-season friendly recently against Villarreal, which leads through 1-1, but there is a concern that Leeds will not have enough attacking firepower to score enough goals to see them survive in the Premier League.
00:42Of course, they have brought in a striker in Lucas Nemecha to the club as well, although Patrick Bamford has been told by Daniel Farker that he is no longer part of Leeds' plans going into England's top flight.
00:55So the question remains, at least for now, unless Leeds do bring in any more strikers, will Joel Perrault be good enough to help Leeds survive in the Premier League?
01:04Well, as mentioned, he doesn't have any Premier League experience, which is not a good starting point.
01:10But certainly his form, especially last season, was very good in the Championship, so if he's able to carry that on into the Premier League, at least he should get amongst the goals to start with.
01:22But of course, the Premier League is a different beast to the Championship, so Leeds perhaps, and Joel Perrault certainly, may not find it as easy to find the net in a lot of games against some of the bigger clubs in the country.
01:35So, for Leeds, this becomes a tricky situation. They've already spent a lot of money so far during this transfer window, and a lot of it on defensive cover and quality.
01:45Certainly a lot of tall and physical players they've added to their back line, but apart from Nemecha, they've not really added to their goal-scoring department so far.
01:56And is this perhaps an oversight by Leeds? Well, that remains to be seen.
02:00Let's hear, though, from Joel Perrault himself, who was speaking after his goal against Villarreal in a pre-season friendly at Ellen Road,
02:08to see what he made of that game itself and scoring in it, and how well he thinks he can cope in the top flight ahead of the season.
02:17Certainly, Leeds fans will back Perrault to go and do the business, but I think a lot of them will still have their reservations about how much he will be able to do in the season to come.
02:29So, it's now up to Perrault to prove himself.
02:32But let's hear what he had to say after the friendly against Villarreal to see whether he is up for it,
02:38and whether he thinks he is capable of being Leeds' top scorer again next season.
02:43It was a good, tough game, a good opponent, and always happy to take my goal with me.
02:52Yeah, the goal came at a good time because they were a good side you were playing today, and we saw that in spells of the game, didn't we?
02:59Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think they had really good patterns as well, like where they sometimes caught us in behind.
03:05I think we reacted well to it, apart from with the goal, of course, but to then get back into the game with the goal is always really good,
03:15and it shows the resilience we have as a team as well.
03:18Are you happy to be scoring goals in pre-season?
03:22Yeah, of course. You want to keep going where you left, so yes, I'm very happy with that,
03:26but at the same time, it's still pre-season, and it does count, but it ain't the real work yet.
03:34Because everybody in the group, the group has been strengthened this summer,
03:37everybody in the group is in the position of trying to make sure you're in the team for that first game, aren't you?
03:43Yes, definitely, and you never know what will happen with new signings as well,
03:47but we all can only control what we can do ourselves, so everyone wants to be in the starting line-up.
03:52So how do you feel pre-season has gone so far?
03:54Well, I think we have had a good pre-season this far.
03:59I think, obviously, with some decent to good results, two wins, two draws,
04:05I think we've shown that we've gotten a lot stronger, and fitness-wise,
04:10I think the team is in a really good place as well.
04:13You've got a lot of new guys in. Have they fitted into the group well?
04:16Yes, of course. Anton maybe has a little less time than some others
04:22that have been here for a couple of weeks longer,
04:24but everyone is adjusting well to the team and to the process that we're in as well.
04:29One more game to go. It's getting close now, isn't it?
04:32Yes, definitely. That excites me, and I feel that excites the group as well.
04:38We're really looking forward to the season and see what battles we have to fight.
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